Talk:The Snow Queen/@comment-74.99.65.62-20170514175630/@comment-74.99.65.62-20170612221755
Arya Stark* Princess Arya Stark Arya Horseface, Arya Underfoot, Arry, Lumpyface, Lumpyhead, Weasel, Nymeria, Nan, Squab, Salty, Cat of the Canals, Beth the Blind Girl, The Ugly Little Girl, Mercedene, Mercy "Fear cuts deeper than swords." Eddard's free-spirited, nine-year-old tomboy daughter who doesn't fit the expectations of a highborn girl at all. She identifies with her brother Jon, a fellow outsider, with who she is very close, and enjoys the company of those from lower classes, such as servants and their children. When the war breaks out, Arya plunges into the wide world as she is forced to go on the run and becomes embroiled in a surprising number of violent adventures despite her tender age. Her direwolf is Nymeria. *Action Survivor: Arya survives many dangerous and violent situation throughout her story despite not being physically strong or trained in arms. From the fourth book onward, she progressing toward being an assassin. *Always Someone Better: Arya was envious of Sansa's beauty and talents, which would get Sansa far in Westeros's patriarchal society. Although Arya has her own talents (such as math, knowledge of the outdoors, fighting, and horseback riding) that help her survive disguised as a commoner, they aren't skills that are valued or acknowledged in a highborn girl. *Animal Eye Spy: During [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/AStormOfSwords A Storm of Swords] Arya begins to warg into her lost direwolf, Nymeria, while she is asleep. When she is briefly blinded in Braavos she realizes she can see through the eyes of a cat. *Animal Motif: **The first book has her chasing cats. In Braavos, she takes up the name of Cat of the Canals because there are many cats in Braavos and an additional one wouldn't make a difference. She ends up skinchanging into one while being temporarily blind. **She's also described as a "she-wolf" due to her aggressive nature and the sigil of her house. She repeatedly refers to herself as a wolf in addition to warging into Nymeria. **While she's taken prisoner and sent to Harrenhal, she compares herself to a sheep (because of her enforced passiveness in the face of the torture, rape and murder she witnesses) and a mouse (because she's too small and unimportant to notice in the vast castle). When she decides to escape she goes back to using wolf imagery to encourage herself. *Annoying Younger Sibling: Her older brothers adore her, but Sansa, with whom she shares The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry, certainly sees her this way in the first book since Arya frequently gets away with not behaving like a noblewoman and can be a Jerkass when she's not pleased with Sansa. *Anti-Hero: She appears to be slowly getting darker as she takes levels in badass: she's a Pragmatic Hero in [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/AClashOfKings A Clash of Kings] and [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/AStormOfSwords A Storm of Swords], who is continually forced into situations where she must kill in order to stay alive or to escape bad situations. In A Dance With Dragons, Arya is given her first job as an assassin. *Arranged Marriage: Is obliged to wed Elmar Frey, due to Robb's negotiations with the Late Lord Walder. Due to her own circumstances, she never actually finds out about this. The result is a humorous scene late in [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/AClashOfKings A Clash of Kings] where she runs into her own former fiancé, while he is moping over the rift between Starks and Freys and the loss of his "princess."Arya: My brothers might be dead. Elmar: No one cares about a serving girl's brothers. Arya: I hope your princess dies! *Attempted Rape: Multiple characters along Arya's journey threaten her with rape, including a woman. *Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: With Sansa. Arya admits to herself at one point in the story that she wouldn't mind playing the "princess" and dressing to fit the part if it meant that she would be with Sansa again. *Becoming the Mask: During Arya's journey she takes on different names and roles in order to survive. While she never loses who she is, Arya sometimes gets so deep into her new roles that she refers to them as different and independent entities. The Faceless Men try to bring this about deliberately as part of their training, in which their assassins think of themselves as "no one" and take on the personality (and face) of the person they're impersonating. Sure enough Arya starts to think of herself as Cat of the Canals, a Street Urchin in Braavos, but her 'wolf-dreams' (see Bond Creatures), her refusal to give up Needle, and her execution of a Night's Watch deserter show that her original identity is still resisting. **The resisting of her original identity can be also seen in that the names she used so far in Braavos all have a connection to Arya's past — Cat was her mother's nickname, Beth the name of Ser Rodrik Cassel's daughter and Mercy is a connection to Sandor Clegane and the "gift of mercy". *Big Brother Worship: To Jon and, to a lesser extent, Robb. *Black Sheep: Although she is loved by her father, mother and brothers, she feels like this about her place in the Stark family and among the ladies at Winterfell due to her rebellious nature and desire to pursue unladylike pursuits. Her other siblings are comfortable in their roles or find an outlet for their skills — Robb is set to become the future Lord as Winterfell, Sansa fulfills the expectations of a Proper Lady and wife, Bran wants to be a knight, Rickon is the baby of the family, and her half-brother Jon (who, albeit, also feels like somewhat of an outsider due to his illegitimacy) is closely mentored by their father alongside Robb. However, Arya is unable to find an outlet for her talents and fails to be a proper lady like her mother and older sister. Sansa and her friend Jeyne bully her, she struggles with ladylike skills (embroidery, music, managing her appearance) and her genuine talents are overlooked or inappropriate for her position and gender (riding, sword fighting, maths, and befriending the smallfolk). Of all her siblings, she is closest with her brother Jon, who she identifies closely with — partly because they are both the only Stark children in the current generation to inherit Stark look and partly because, though they are both loved by their family, do not feel like they fully fit in. Her father had hunted boar in the wolfswood with Robb and Jon. Once he even took Bran, but never Arya, even though she was older. Septa Mordane said boar hunting was not for ladies, and Mother only promised that when she was older she might have her own hawk. She was older now, but if she had a hawk she’d eat it. *Bond Creatures: Like all the Starks, she has a potential to be a warg. It's theorized that the reason she's not doing well with her Faceless Man training is because part of her is still running around Westeros, in the form of Nymeria. In the fifth book, while blind, she begins to skinchange into cats during her dreams and a twice while she is awake. In short, she's heading towards being a full-blown twoskin skinchanger with a bit more practice to learn control and the opportunity to settle on a specific feline to work with. Of her siblings, only Bran shows this flexibility in skill, and although, he trumps her in how flexible, he has had training while Arya hasn't. *Bratty Half-Pint: Arya is a petite child with only a little training in combat, so she is easily physically outmatched by those around her. Being highborn, she is outspoken and thus has to force herself to stay quiet and calm during dangerous moments. *Break the Cutie: Arya's Plucky Girl nature tends to obscure the fact that she's living with a massive amount of trauma, grief and anger (enough to frighten an old wood-witch she encounters in A Storm of Swords) that's only shown through her desire to murder the people who have gotten away with various crimes. *Broken Bird: Poor Arya's gone from spirited tomboy to a damaged child who has learned to kill as a means of survival and has only been able to find a safe place to live among assassins. *Cassandra Truth: Happens twice in A Clash of Kings. **When traveling northward with Yoren and the Night's Watch recruits, Arya alone doesn't want to spend the night in an abandoned village because she rightly guesses that the villagers fled for a reason. Everyone dismisses her as craven, then Lannister's knights come to raid the village and attack and kill most of their party, including Yoren. **While recouping with other surviving recruits, Arya insists on scoping out a village alone because she's quieter than the others and less likely to get caught if there are more brutal knights there. Gendry "the Bull" insists on following her, and sure enough, he gets caught. Hot Pie then insists on accompanying Arya to rescue Gendry, and then he's promptly caught and gives Arya's position away, leaving them all at the mercy of Gregor's men. *Character Tic: Chewing on her lip (like her mom on her youth). The Faceless Men train her out of it since it's an idiosyncrasy of Arya Stark. *Chekhov's Classroom: She constantly refers back to Syrio's lessons throughout her ordeals, though they only sometimes help her. *Chekhov's Gun: The iron coin which Jaqen H'ghar gives her, which isn't just a keepsake. It secures her passage to Braavos. *Chekhov's Skill: The first thing Jon teaches her about sword fighting is: "Stick them with the pointy end." When it finally comes down to defending her life, she panics so much that that's the only thing she manages to remember, but it works. *Chronic Hero Syndrome: Her impulsive nature and fierce sense of justice means she's quick to defend the more vulnerable and champion the smallfolk. Given this is Westeros, her efforts don't always turn out well (such as when she attacks Joffrey to protect her friend Mycah) but there are occasions when they pay off, in particular when she gets Jaqen's help for saving his life. *Children Forced to Kill: Getting away from King's Landing leaves her stranded in a war-torn land where people look to take advantage of her or kill her. After she gets captured by Gregor Clegane's men she begins developing a nonchalant attitude toward killing. She later enters the assassin's guild known as the "Faceless Men". *Color Motif: Grey. Grey is the color of her eyes, grey is the city she found some peace in, grey is what she describes herself. Grey is also of House Stark's main colors. *Daddy's Girl: She had a very close bond with Ned. Possibly due to her Strong Family Resemblance and general shared traits with his late sister. *Dance Battler: Arya's water dancing. *Dead Guy Junior: She is named after her father's grandmother Arya Flint. *Deconstructed Character Archetype **Action Girl: She received a few months of water dancer training with the former First Sword of Braavos and uses those skills throughout her journey. However, she can only reliably beat other children with it and has to rely on manipulation and subtlety when facing adults. **Kid Hero: Arya is a more subtle deconstruction of the kid hero, as she is one of the child protagonists of the series, has a high sense of justice, she takes on opponents larger and more skilled than herself, and has been able to repeatedly outsmart adults. However, the villains she wants to kill believe she is dead and are unaware of her true identity. **Spirited Young Lady: Even before ending up on the run, Arya struggled against the restrictions placed on her by her culture. *Deliberately Cute Child: Has more than one kill under her belt using this approach. *Don't Call Me "Sir": **Despite being the daughter of a high lord, she dislikes being called "milady" or "my lady." **Due to her garb and unkempt appearance, she is initially confused with a boy and has to point out that she isn't; later, she has to get used to it by force. *Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: The kindly man refers to her "sad gray eyes that have seen so much". *Evil Mentor: You know your life's in the gutter when your only two mentors of recent memory are Sandor Clegane and a face-shifting assassin. *Fille Fatale: Seduces Raff The Sweetling, gets him in her room and then kills him the same way he killed Lommy in TWOW *Flower Motifs: Arya is fond of flowers; she collects them for her father and later counts them on their way to King's Landing. *Foil: **According to Word of God, her sister Sansa was created as her foil. Despite being as different as night and day, their quests becoming increasingly parallel as fallen princesses who shed their initial idealism and sense of identity in order to survive. **Like Daenerys Targaryen, Arya Stark is a highborn fallen on hard times who has lost much of her family and has spent much time living in squalor in a foreign land. Their quests also involve the supernatural and the pursuit of justice. Unlike Daenerys though, Arya doesn't blindly judge people; she understands that being part of a group doesn't make someone like the rest. Daenerys orders the crucifixion of 163 slavers, not wanting to think there might be good people among them, because being a slaver makes someone evil by default. Arya chooses not to include the Freys on her list because she doesn't know the names of the ones involved. **Varys. From great information-gathering abilities to mummering Arya is becoming more like him every page, yet the two have never had an interaction together. In a way, this mirrors Sansa and Littlefinger's lessons, except Littlefinger is feeding Sansa with his teachings, Arya's teacher has been life. ***Speaking of Varys, his monologue about the ideal leader Westeros needs could be read with Arya in mind and fits perfectly. Trained in arms, reads and writes, speaks several tongues note '' has studied history ''note '' and law ''note '' and poetry ''note ''. She has lived with fisherfolk, worked with her hands, swum in rivers (like a fish according to Jon) and mended nets and learned to wash her own clothes at need. She can fish and cook and bind up a wound, she knows what it is like to be hungry, to be hunted, to be afraid. She understands kingship is a duty, that a king must put his people first, and live and rule for them ''note '' Varys, however, wasn't talking about Arya, but about Aegon VI. **Margaery Tyrell. Cersei sends informers to spy on Margaery to get any dirt on her. What she found out was a woman who enjoyed horse-rising, hawking, talking to and befriending smallfolk, not caring about getting dirty to fit in with them, collecting things she found in nature, a sea-lover and an all-around fun person. That's exactly like Arya as Sansa described her, which makes it all the more ironic since she wanted a sister like Maragery. Margaery is what Arya could have become if her tragedy never happened to her, but also shows Sansa is a very inconsistent judge of character, because the things she disliked in Arya she adored in Margaery. Margaery is also what Arya could have become had her interests and willpower been accepted and made the most of, rather than being told she was inferior to her older sister's type of proper lady. **She is a foil to Myrcella Baratheon. Myrcella is every bit the child princess Arya refused to be with none of the abuse that Sansa saw. Myrcella for the most part was able to see herself safe precisely by abiding to her betrothed. Arya herself was betrothed to a Frey boy that she actually met, but none of them knew each other when it happened. When it came to the time, however, Myrcella was unable to avoid becoming a political pawn and got maimed for it, while Arya was able to escape being a political pawn through a great deal of suffering. *Free-Range Children: Deconstructed. Arya's chapters are full of graphic depictions of the hardships of being homeless in an epic fantasy world. *Generation Xerox: Her similarity to her aunt Lyanna in both appearance and temperament is frequently noted. A scene Bran witnesses from the past even shows Lyanna calling Benjen "stupid" when they were children, which Arya frequently calls people. *The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: Arya and Sansa have a strained relationship due to their vastly different personalities and the way adults pit them against each other. This leads to Sansa bullying Arya with her friends and Arya spurning Sansa's company in favor of others. *Gray Eyes: Along with Jon, she is the only one of Ned's children to inherit them, which is fitting since she grows much colder and more anti-heroic than the rest of her siblings. *Guile Hero: Arya relies on her intelligence and cunning to survive after being forced into hiding among the common folk. It especially becomes handy after she joins up with the Faceless Men. *Hates Baths: While staying at a noblewoman's castle Arya is forced to bathe and wear a dress. Gendry sees her and bursts out laughing, so Arya picks a fight with him to get back to her usual messy self. *Heroic B.S.O.D.: After the Red Wedding, she goes into a catatonic state, even passing up the chance to murder Sandor in his sleep, which she had been trying to do repeatedly beforehand. *Horrible Judge of Character: Miraculously averted despite it being her family's Fatal Flaw early on and all her older family members — sans Jon — falling prey to it. While Ned, Catelyn, Robb and Sansa's faith in the wrong people has catastrophic consequences for them ''note '' Arya's survived on her instincts alone for most of the series. She dislikes the Lannisters from the get-go and very savvy while on the run in a brutally wartorn Westeros. The few people she does choose to trust, such as Gendry, usually turn out to be good calls. *Hot-Blooded: Her father says she has "the wolf blood", like her aunt Lyanna. *How Dare You Die on Me!: She is both sad and angry at Yoren for dying because he had promised to take her home to Winterfell. She has a similar reaction in ''A Game of Thrones during the purge of the Stark household when she finds the dead body of the household guard Desmond, who promised her that every Northman was worth ten Southron swords, yet he and several others died while only taking one Lannister guard down with them. *Hyper Awareness: She is very observant at the start of the series, but her training focuses on heightening that ability. She is the only character to figure out there was something off about Roose Bolton, a mistake that cost her mother, and her brother their lives. **She is able to see there are good among bad too, such as she understood Shitmouth was not a cruel man, albeit him being part of the Moutain's Men, the a gang known for raping, pillaging, burning. **Much earlier, she managed to not fall for a Lannister trap, when a ship supposedly to take her home was surrounded by Lannister men in Stark clothes. She just changed her way noticing this. **In Harrenhal she was able to pick up what everyone was doing, at what place, and at what time. *Hypocritical Humor: When the kindly man tells her she's too proud for the Loss of Identity required by a Faceless Man, Arya says she can be more humble than anyone. *I Call It "Vera": Needle, Jon's gift to her. *I Have Many Names: She takes on number of identities to survive: Arry, an orphan boy; Weasel, servant at Harrenhal; Nymeria/Nan, cupbearer to Roose Bolton; Salty, when aboard the Titan's Daughter on her way to Braavos; Cat of the Canals, an orphan from King's Landing whose father was killed by a bravo; Beth, a blind beggar girl. As an acolyte of the Faceless Men, this number can be expected to rise dramatically. *I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Mycah's death is only the first of many deaths Arya would blame on herself. *I'm Not Pretty: She is surprised when people compare her to her beautiful Aunt Lyanna. Justified as she grew up being compared to her more traditionally beautiful older sister as well as consistently being referred to as "Arya Horseface" and the like. It's implied that while Sansa is the "born beautiful" type, Arya herself is more of the "growing into her beauty" type. *Innocence Lost: Arya went from spirited tomboy princess to disillusioned killer in the course of only a couple of years. *In-Series Nickname: Her family's household staff referred to her as Arya Underfoot. Sansa and Jeyne called her Arya Horseface. Sandor Clegane refers to her as she-wolf. *It Gets Easier: The first time she is forced to kill somebody, she's genuinely horrified. After her experience with battle, her time in Harrenhall, and the work of Jaqen H'Ghar, killing comes naturally to her. *It Was a Gift: When the Faceless Men tell Arya she must give up all her possessions, Needle is the one gift she's is unable to throw away, so she hides it instead. *Judge, Jury, and Executioner: When Arya, Cat of the Canals, encounters a deserter from the Night's Watch, she leads him into a dark alley and cuts his throat, following the traditions of her culture's executions of deserters. **Her trainer in the Guild of the Faceless Men is trying to break her of this habit, telling her that their order is made up solely of executioners, and their god is judge and jury. *Junior Counterpart: To her late aunt Lyanna; Ned notes they share everything from appearance to personality and interests. *Lady Looks Like a Dude: She was often mistaken for being a boy. She uses this to her advantage after the second book when she travels among the commoners. *Left-Handed Mirror: The trait emphasizes how different she is from her sister. *Little Miss Badass: Deconstructed. Though a child, Arya has been able to survive in horrific conditions and even defend herself against enemies on occasion. *Lonely Together: In the Riverlands, she considers proposing Gendry to become a family together; it never becomes more than a thought. *Loss of Identity: This is part of what she needs to accomplish to become a Faceless Man assassin. Though she continues to insist that she is no one, her refusal to give up Needle, a symbol of her connect with her family, and her ever growing ability to warg, prove that her identity is still intact. *Madden Into Misanthropy: Arya has gradually become more misanthropic with the course of the story, as she has found that every person that she seems to place her trust into meets either a tragic fate or finds his/herself led astray, making these people unable to keep their promises with Arya. Slowly, Arya is shown to be eroding from all her preconceived notions about the people she meets and the value of their lives. *Madness Mantra: Her mantra doesn't necessarily show insanity, but her constant repetition in her head of people she wants dead is rather unnerving for a girl who, once again, hasn't hit puberty yet. **Likewise her repeating the Tickler's interrogation questions while stabbing him over and over again. *'Arya:' Is there gold hidden in the village? Is there silver, gems? Is there food? Where is Lord Beric? Where did he go? How many men were with him? How many knights, how many bowmen? How many, how many, how many, how many, how many, how many? IS THERE GOLD IN THE VILLAGE? *Magnetic Hero: Despite being the outcast among the few young girls in Winterfell for not fitting in, Arya is depicted as a popular character who develops friendships easily and with a variety of different sorts of people regardless of social status. This continues even as she takes on other identities with the Faceless Men.Sansa's narration: Sansa knew all about the sorts of people Arya liked to talk to: squires and grooms and serving girls, old men and naked children, rough-spoken freeriders of uncertain birth. Arya would make friends with anybody. *Middle Child Syndrome: Between older siblings Robb and Sansa, who easily fit into the gender norms of future Lord of Winterfell and highborn lady respectively, and youngest children Bran and Rickon, tomboyish Arya always felt out of place. This is only helped by the fact that she's the only one with the classic Stark look, which is part of why she is closest to fellow misfit Jon Snow. It's suggested that this trope is the reason she acts out sometimes, especially in the first book. *Morality Pet: Sandor Clegane shows a softer side with her as well as with her sister Sansa. Though he's not very nice to Arya (who also hates him), he keeps her from harm and even teaches her "the gift of mercy". *Motifs: The water motif (representing change and adaptation, which Arya does a lot) is the most prominent element in her chapters. She loves it too. To a lesser extent, soil. *Naïve Newcomer: While she was never as naive or overly-trusting as Sansa, Arya was completely unaware of how cruel and cold the world could really be. She didn't understand the consequences of striking a prince (even in defense of an innocent person) or acting out in public. There are hints that she believed some of the things in songs as well (again, though not to the same extent as Sansa); for example, she initially believed in the Knight in Shining Armor ideal too and thought if she could reveal herself to Lady Whent, Lady Whent would take care of her (as oppose to assuming she was just a lying commoner). *Nice to the Waiter: Something her father taught her, which makes the deaths of their servants and guards hard on her. *Nothing Personal: Like her mother, Arya averts this so hard that it's her main obstacle as a novice of the Faceless Men. She takes justice very personally, but they aren't judges; they're tools who aren't allowed to take contracts on people they know and don't care whether the victims are good or evil. *Not So Different: **Arya and Sansa are considered as different as day and night by their father but they suffer similar ordeals. They both have had to assess friends and enemies in order to survive, have made mistakes in trusting formerly honorable knights, and are being manipulated into being pawns to be controlled by men with great authority. **She has some traits actually more reminiscent of Catelyn than Ned's. Other than have the same Character Tic, mother and daughter are shown to be both more emotional and violent in their thoughts and actions than, for example, Sansa or Ned. They are both more practical and cynical about the people who surround them, which Ned and Sansa (at first) are not. Both Arya and Catelyn are strongly concerned with justice, but said justice often converges in desire of vengeance. Catelyn's new identity as Lady Stoneheart takes this Up to Eleven, as she has executed anyone she believes was involved with the Red Wedding, not unlike her daughter's revenge list of people who hurt her and her family, and they are both very unlike to forgive them, no matter what their reasons are. *One of the Boys: Engaged in horseback riding and swordplay with her brothers, and was closest to Jon, much to her septa's dismay. *Our Werewolves Are Different: Arya can warg into her direwolf, Nymeria, taking over her body and joining her thoughts. *Passionate Sports Girl: She practices swordplay and is excellent at horseback riding. *Pay Evil unto Evil: Like her father, Jon and (strangely enough) her mother, Arya has a very strong sense of right and wrong which she takes very personally. But, that doesn't mean she won't do wrong to pay wrong: oh, she will. If she can get away with it. The Faceless Men are trying to get her to shake this habit. With less-than-fantastic success. This is one Northern tradition she upholds to the hilt. *Plucky Girl: She is brave and persistent in achieving her goals which include becoming water dancer, reuniting with Jon, and killing those who have harmed her family and friends. *Princess in Rags: After she leaves the Red Keep, she's a ragged child whose most valuable possession is Needle and is forced to steal to survive. *Professional Killer: In training to become a member of the assassins' guild known as the Faceless Men, and first assassinates someone at the end of the fifth book. *Replacement Goldfish: It's implied that the reason Ned indulged in her Tomboyish traits (see the appointment of a private fencing tutor), it's because he wants to see her little sister Lyanna again through Arya, without reliving the memories from Robert's Rebellion. But, as described above, Ned expects her to grow out of this rebellious phase, so it's a bit downplayed *The Resenter: Downplayed; in the first book she resents Sansa for being so effortlessly good at most of the skills required by their culture while Arya, despite all her efforts, can't catch up. In addition, while she is indulged by her parents, Arya's behavior is not as celebrated as Sansa's is by anyone. Even Ned tells Arya that those tendencies are what brought ruin to his siblings. *She-Fu: Eddard sees her Tomboyish ways and decides she should be trained in the more "elegant" Braavosi fencing style. *Shipper on Deck: For her parents. To the point that she outright rejects Edric Dayne's suggestion that Ned fell in love with Ashara Dayne at Harrenhal and then tries to run away from the Brotherhood because of it. *Ship Tease: Of the Puppy Love variety with Gendry. They grow very close while traveling together and there are hints of more romantic feelings as time goes on, particularly during their stay at Acorn Hall. *Silk Hiding Steel: While taking on other roles, Arya learns to utilize this trope, pretending to be meek and weaponizing her femininity to gain the advantage with her enemies. For instance, in The Winds of Winter, she takes on the role of The Ingenue with Raff The Sweetling, pretending she has been offered by her employer for his sexual use and then pulls a Chastity Dagger from her sleeve when found alone in a room with him, with no witnesses. *Sibling Yin-Yang: The complete opposite of Sansa in almost every conceivable way. *Snooping Little Kid: Arya overhears some important conversations through her travels (though she often fails to understand their significance), and starts snooping in earnest as part of her training with the Faceless Men. *Spoiled Brat: Similarly to the rest of the Stark kids, Ned indulged her quite a bit by Westerosi standards, never punishing her for disobeying and giving her sword lessons, and she often antagonizes her older sister, though is generally a kind girl. Part of Arya's arc is the Deconstruction of her being a Rebellious Princess, where she realizes how much better she had it as a noblewoman than a commoner on the run. *Street Smart: Arya's resourcefulness and quick thinking allow her to survive alone in the slums of King's Landing for a time, and she later hones that ability even more during her training in Braavos. *Street Urchin: Again, during her time in King's Landing, she sleeps in the streets and survives by catching pigeons. *Strong Family Resemblance: To her aunt Lyanna, inheriting her Unkempt Beauty looks, Hot-Blooded temperament, love of horses, and skill with swords. *Survival Mantra: Fear cuts deeper than swords. Fear cuts deeper than swords. Fear cuts deeper than swords. *Sweet Polly Oliver: She disguised herself as a boy more than once to keep her true identity hidden. Even after giving up the disguise, she is still often mistaken for a boy because of her short hair, male clothing, and un-girlish bearing. *Tantrum Throwing: Plenty of this due to her Hot-Blooded nature, but it takes on a disturbing edge after all the atrocities she witnesses. After the Red Wedding when a child her age shows Arya her soldier doll, she responds by ripping its stuffing out and throwing it in the river so it will really look like a soldier. *Temporary Blindness: Part of her Training from Hell with the Faceless Men is this; she's blinded for a while so her other skills can strengthen without the aid of sight. Afterwards, it's temporary deafness, and so on. *Tomboy: Arya isn't one for needlework or pretty dresses, instead preferring swordplay and horseback riding. *Tomboy and Girly Girl: While Sansa prefers to think of the world as a song where she is the beautiful princess destined to marry the king, Arya is a quick-thinking tomboy that would rather be learning swordplay and riding horses. *Tomboy Princess: Her lack of skill in and aversion toward anything ladylike give Septa Mordane and her sister endless pain, but her father doesn't seem to mind his daughter's tomboy-ish attitude, likely because it reminds him of his sister. *Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Arya loves flowers, wears her heart on her sleeve for much of the series, and resents that Sansa gets to sit with the "tall, handsome" prince while Arya gets stuck sitting with his chubby little brother, and is developing Silk Hiding Steel skills. *Training from Hell: Her instructors at the House of Black and White are benevolent enough, but the training itself is extreme. It involves being temporarily blinded to learn to manage and fight without seeing. Next in line is being made deaf, and then being crippled. *True Companions: Despite their class difference, she becomes this with Gendry and Hot Pie, taking them into her "pack" and admits they're the only friends she has, even considering offering to be his family. *Unusual Euphemism: "Dancing" and "needlework" for her less-than-ladylike sword training. *Waif-Fu: Played realistically. Her father arranges for Arya to be trained in the water-dancing style well suited to her small frame and slim blade, but she still lacks the size and strength to take on adult male soldiers. Her most effective kills involve using cunning and deception to take her target unawares. *Wild Card: As of the second book onward, particularly after Yoren is killed, and with him dies her plan to reach Winterfell. *Wild Child: Arya is known for her wild spirit which Ned refers to as "wolf blood." *Wise Beyond Their Years: An increasingly dark example, given the hell she witnesses but she demonstrates this as early as the first book. After the Trident incident when Cersei and Joffrey have Lady and Mycah killed, Arya — all of nine years old — is the only one present who realizes how Obviously Evil the pair are and is wary of them (the fact she cares about the smallfolk and takes the death of a mere butcher's boy so seriously, while other nobles dismiss it, helps). *You Remind Me of X: Several characters note the resemblance between her and Lyanna, specifically her skill in horse-riding, her interest in swordplay, her fiery temper and her increasing beauty. *You Should Have Died Instead: Sansa tells Arya that she wishes Arya had died instead of Lady.